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Saturday, August 20, 2016

A James Bond-like Car for the Common Man to Save the World

Last month Al Futtaim Motors lent me one of their hybrid
car, Toyota Prius and our family of sustainability professionals and an Eco-kid
was thrilled to go around in town in this green car! While mommy enjoyed the
driving experience, daddy (who's passionate about automobiles) explained all
technicalities and curious kid in back seat was totally engrossed watching energy monitor on dashboard.

This time, I requested our in house sustainability as well
as automobile expert, my husband, Nandan Tavkar to write about this car for my
readers and first time ever in last 8 years of this blog somebody was all ready
to contribute!

Initial Reaction

Being an avid car enthusiast, and a sustainability
enthusiast, I was delighted when I was offered to review the Prius. There are
two trim levels available for the car, Dynamic and Iconic; we were given the
Iconic model for review.

In the first glimpse we had of the vehicle, it was
captivating. That night, Ruhaan (our son) and I went down for a pre-review and,
a sneak quick drive. Subsequently over the weekend we did several test drives of
the car.

Stands out easily – no problems locating it in the Parking
Lot

On the inside, the interiors were clearly intriguing. The
seats and the consoles were rendered in a classy two tone finish of ivory-white
and black. The ergonomics are excellent and everything is where you would
expect it … well almost (check the Quirks section if intrigued). The car
includes numerous smart (electronic or otherwise) features for making the
in-car experience better.

The Prius has two screens, ergonomically placed such that
you can be aware of the important information such as speed and fuel efficiency
while concentrating on the road.

Regulars such as the Phone charging slot, USB slot and
headphone slots are easily accessible and where you would expect them.
Interestingly, there is a wireless phone charger pad where you can place your
phone and charge it – we couldn’t get that to work with the phones that we
have.

Two cup holders are placed between the driver and passenger
seats. The cup holders are provided with a spring which adapts to the size of
the cup.

Touch Screen Sound Adjustments

The JBL entertainment system sounds good; what appealed to us
most, was the choice of Bass, Mid, and Treble sound setting adjustment. You get
the center touchscreen for the adjustments, while it’s possible to browse
through the radio channels and volume via the steering mounted controls. The set-ups
are simple and intuitive.

The first observation I had about the seats, was that they
were so well balanced and comfortable. These seats were definitely designed
with significant consideration to science and art of ergonomics.

The rear seats
were comfortable too with ample leg space. However with my minuscule size, I would
not be a good yardstick for leg space. With the baby seat fixed on the rear
seat, it appeared to be a bit crammed for my son as his legs would touch the
back of the front passenger seat. The boot seemed to have practical space in
terms of depth, height as well as width. It would easily accommodate the
regular weekend supermarket runs as well as the occasional baggage storage for
airport runs.

Space wise – there was ample space as much as would be
expected from a family sedan. The interior space is similar to that of Toyota’s
own Corolla, or Honda’s Civic, but smaller than the Camry, Accord, Altima
bunch.

Driving it

The driver’s seat had the right supports in the right places
seemed to wrap around me such that I was a part of the car.

Having driven on UAE’s roads, one feeling I get is that it
is necessary for the car to be interesting enough, such that you can drive on
the long highway stretches without falling asleep, and without relying on the
adrenaline rush from speed to keep you engaged.

The Prius excels at this. The
drive is engaging yet easy. As with the seats, the car seems to wrap around the
driver and offers a great driving experience.

As I mentioned before, there are numerous smart features to
enhance the drive. One of the features that stood out, in true-blue, diligent,
Japanese style is the ‘Rear Crossing Traffic’ warning that flashes when a car
is passing by while reversing.

Our first drive was on an internal colony road, so we had to
drive at a limited speed. Interestingly, in this situation, the car runs on the
battery (not the engine) and is EXTREMELY quiet.

On a side note it’s useful to sneak up on someone … making
it apt as a spy car (hence the title). We had some startled stares from
pedestrians (walking on the road) to suddenly notice a car driving next to
them.

Theoretically the electric motor is capable of insane
acceleration, as seen in the Tesla. In the Prius, the acceleration is
sufficient, well adequate to get you out of trouble situations, but not
sufficient to scare you. Although we did not drive to the car’s maximum speed
of 180 km/h, it got to the highway speed of 140 km/h comfortably and felt very
stable.

Coming to the topic of speed, another one of the intelligent
touches is that the speed is projected on the windscreen such that driving is
not impeded. In fact it makes us pay more attention to the drive.

Safety and Handling:

I have had a love for cars that handle well (and loathe for
those that don’t), and I absolutely loved the Prius. The handling is excellent,
very predictable. In fact, behind the scenes, the car has several features
(including the Electronic Stability Control, and other accident avoidance
features) which makes it extremely safe. The car bagged the maximum 5 stars for
safety on Euro NCAP on account of its accident avoidance features as well of
its structural rigidity and air bags.

Delight Factors – Hybrid Drive and Smart Features

Sustainability is implemented in two key areas – systems and
behaviors. You may have all the systems but if not accompanied by behaviors,
the effect will not be as pronounced.

The Prius excels in both departments, excellent systems as
well as setting the culture of good driving with scores and motivational messages.

In terms of the systems, the car’s drivetrain has an
extremely efficient 1.8 lit Atkinson Cycle petrol engine, and a hybrid system,
which includes hybrid batteries, electric motors and a power unit. The car
decides smartly when to use the hybrid battery operated mode and so this car
can be used in existing fueling infrastructure.

During the initial idling and low speeds, when the petrol
engine is inefficient, the car runs on the electric motor powered by the hybrid
batteries. The petrol engine is most efficient around cruising speeds, and this
is when the car automatically switches to the petrol engine. While on the petrol
engine the battery gets recharged. The battery gets recharged even during
braking with a system which converts the kinetic energy in the wheels to
electric energy.

This is demonstrated in real time by the Prius’s Multi Information
Display system which shows exactly when the car is using power from the battery,
the battery getting charged from braking, and the moment when the petrol engine
kicks in.

The Prius’s engineers have not stopped at the Multi
Information Display. The smart bit which introduces the ‘culture’ is the drive score,
and the motivational messages at the end of the drive. The motivational
messages show the score and provide recommendations for better (more efficient)
driving. In fact we saw our driving getting better after we started keeping
track of the scores.

As a result of the Hybrid Drive system, the Atkinson engine,
and the Motivational Messages, the particular Prius we drove was at around an
average fuel consumption of 5.4 lit/100km (43.55 mpg / 18 km per lit), while
one of my hour long drives in the Prius returned around 4.8 lit/100km (49 mpg /
20 km per lit).

In comparison, the average fuel consumption for the non-hybrid
compact sedans (Corolla, Civic, Elantra) bunch can generally hover around 8 lit/100km
(29 mpg / 12 km per lit), while that for the non-hybrid mid-size sedans (Camry,
Accord, Altima) bunch can generally hover around 10 lit/100km (23 mpg / 10 km per
lit). These figures suggest that the Prius can be generally 36% more fuel efficient
than compact sedans and 46% more fuel efficient than mid-size sedans.

Quirks - Things that are not as they seem

Parking - We could not find the Parking Gear on the gear lever.
Evidently there isn’t one on the gear. It’s on a button.

EV Mode – Initially we thought it is a fully electric mode,
where we use the car as an electric vehicle. However the Toyota engineers at Al
Futtaim clarified that this wasn’t the case. The EV mode lets the car run for
longer on the battery/electric motor until the battery drains, after which the
petrol engine automatically kicks in.

B – Drive – There is a mysterious B-Drive gear option on the
gear lever. This option introduces engine braking, such as is useful when descending
a hill, but reduces the fuel economy. This option is generally not selected in
normal driving in the UAE unless you are handling the steep Jebel roads in the
North.

Conclusion

Our experience with the Prius could be summed up as fun,
exciting, brimming with technology and with even more awareness of fuel
efficiency. Our toddler son, Ruhaan, was so excited, he did not want to let go
of the car. Ruhaan was excited and was narrating the whole battery – electric motor
– engine switch-over routine. He now recognizes the Prius hybrid in car magazines, and inquires if there is a similar system in
other cars (which, I think, is good benchmark to compare cars). I think all new cars should be at least hybrids, if not all electric.

If we were looking to buy a car, I would definitely go for
it. It makes great sense with the things that are important to us as a family –
safety, practicality, ease of driving, availability of maintenance, and of
course – sustainable culture, and fuel economy.

With the new Prius, Toyota have done a great job at making
hybrids normal yet, not boring. The car comes with a great thought,
environmentally savvy, comfortable, fun, yet with serious technology, and well
executed in a way that engages the user. The car, with its smart focused thought
and technology, wraps around the needs of the driver, much like The Tuxedo … or
even more appropriately, like James Bond. The car, very much so, belongs is a sci-fi
movie, one about saving the world from global warming.